Action continued to intensify in the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) annual Mashramani Meet at the National Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal on Saturday.
Based on the preliminary results, the second day saw the likes of national swimmers Leon Seaton Jr, Rakewon Noel and Jeron Sookram produce some telling performances at the long course meet which will be used to select the CARIFTA Games squad for the March 30 to April 2 event being held in the Bahamas.
Leon Seaton Jr (lane 4) executes a well-timed dive to begin his fast-paced 100m Freestyle at the National Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal on Saturday (Akeem Greene Photo)
Competing in the 9-10 age group, Jeremy Sookram won the 200m Individual Medley in 3:29.65 ahead of Dolphin Speed Swim club mate Jeron who clocked 3:31.43 and Hashim Mohamed (3:52.84).
Jeron turned the tables in the 50m Butterfly winning in a time of 42.47 ahead of Jermey who stopped the clock at 45.71 and Mohamed at 48.68. He also won the 100m Freestyle in fine style with a time of 1:23.50 ahead of Jeremy with 1:24.29 and Micah Chichester (1:25.14).
Silver Sharks’ Seaton who is understood to have already qualified for the Games with some more impressive times won the boys 13-14 200m Individual Medley in 2:38.77 lengths ahead of Ejaz Mohamed (2:53.93) and Joseph Matthews (3:33.31).
In the 50m Butterfly it was no different producing a time of 28.72 ahead of Dolphin’s Sekhel Tzedeq (32.53) and Sion Jeffers (33.53). In the 100m Freestyle he decimated opponents once again being the only competitor to dip below the minute-mark with a time of 58.76; Mohamed (1:07.15) and Jashmin Thom (1:12.47) rounded-off the top three. Noel, an 11-12 competitor won the 200m Individual Medley (2:41.53), 50m Butterfly (31.76) and 100m Freestyle (1:04.06). In the female category Aleka Persaud produced an identical feat in the same events with times of 2:53.65, 32.38 and 1:04.06 respectively.
Meanwhile, on Friday’s opening day the usual suspects dominated their favoured events quite comfortably. In the 1500m freestyle only two swimmers took to the pool for the challenge; Daniel Claxton competing in the 13-14 age group finished in a time of 33:20.22 while Culpepper in the 18 & over had a time of 26:18.62.
In the 200m Backstroke Dorado Swim club’s Monique Watson in a lone swim in the 11-12 group clocked 3:10.80 while Raekwon Noel of Sea Otters Swim Scademy clocked 2:51.09 ahead of Dorado’s Vladimir Woodroffe (3:00.44) and Elliot Gonsalves (3:21.57). In the 13-14 Donna Carter recorded a time of 3:08:12 beating out Giselle Crane (3:17:11) while Tzedeq lone swam gave him a time of 2:44.37 while Xiomara Getrouw clocked 2:51:25 in a lone battle for the 18 and over group.
The 400 M overall had a higher turnout but Watson again was the lone contender in the 11-12 winning in a time of 6:43.52 while Ethan Gonsalves (6:01.27) out swam Woodroffe (6:37.84) and Elliot (7:13.77) for the boy’s title.
The Sookrams made the boys 9-10 100m Backstroke their own as Jeron won in a time of 1:39.59 and Jeremy in 1:37.78 while Jason Allen came third with 1:51.91. Young prodigy Aleka Persaud of Orca Speed Swim Club won the 11-12 equivalent in a time 1:19.78, easily defeating Patrice Mahaica (1:23.96) and Waston (1:31.76)
Noel’s dominance continued as he won the 100m in a time of 1:18.09 by some distance in front of Woodroffe (1:29.20) and Gonsalves (1:37.20). The 13-14 crows went to Donna Carter (1:23.78) and Tzedeq (1:15.75) while lone competitors Antonio Rodrigues (1:11.41) and Getrouw (1:15.00) won the 15-17 and 18 and over categories respectively. The 13-14 200m Butterfly were won by Lian Winter and Leon Seaton with times of 3:04.90 and 2:46.43 respectively.
The event will conclude today with the 200m freestyle, 50m Backstroke, 100m Butterfly, 100m Breaststroke and the 50m Freestyle. (Akeem Greene)
